Straight of goods finder



July 19, 1955 n. L. MOORE 2,713,204

STRAIGHT OF GOODS FINDER Filed May 13, 1954 F1E l INVENTOR: DOROTHY L.Moo/a5 a WMf HER A TTOPNE Y5 United States Patent STRAIGHT OF GDODSFINDER Dorothy L. Moore, Gilroy, Calif.

Application M ay 13, 1954, Serial No. 429,512

2 Claims. (Cl. 33-16) This invention relates to layout tools and moreparticularly to what I prefer to call a straight of goods finder for useby seamstresses or tailors in laying out dress or suit patterns on clothto attain the maximum strength of such cloth in the ultimate garment.

In the making of garments, a pattern is selected to suit the desire ofthe person for whom the garment is intended. These patterns, as is wellknown, are printed on thin filmy tissue paper in the form of the variousparts for the garment such as, back, front, sleeve, collars, belts, andvarious facings for certain of such parts. The pattern parts areprovided with what is called a grainline arrow which is printed on thepattern part. These grainline arrows are for the purpose of registeringthe pattern with the straight of goods, i. e., lengthwise of the goods,so

that the part eventually cut out of the cloth will lie flat,

will not pull or balloon or otherwise be distorted and lose its tailoredappearance.

The straight of goods is that direction in the weave of the cloth whichis lengthwise of the goods as it comes from the bolt. The cloth has whatis known as the selvedge of the material on each of its longitudinalside edges so woven as to prevent raveling of the fabric. By placing thegrainline arrow printed on the pattern part parallel to the selvedge ofthe material, best results are obtained in the lay and tailoredappearance of the ultimate garment. In the absence of the selvedge, onewould have to pull a thread transverse to the lengthwise strands of thecloth in order to find a line from which to establish the straight ofgoods.

The present invention has as its object to provide a tool by which thestraight of goods can be determined at various positions on the fabric.

Another object of this invention is to provide a straight of goodsfinder adapted to coordinate with the selvedge of woven fabric in amanner to register the grainline arrow of a pattern with the lengthwisedirection of such woven fabric.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparentfrom a reading of the following description in the light of the drawingsin which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the straight of goods finder embodying thepresent invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the straight of goods finder as seen fromline 22 in Pig. 1 and showing the same disposed on fabric with a patternbetween.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged end view of the straight of goods finder only asseen from line 33 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the straight of goods finder in use; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a modified form of the straight ofgoods finder.

In the drawings, the straight of goods finder generally designatedcomprises a straight edge 11 provided with a perpendicular head portion12 and a rider 13 slidable along the straight edge 11 and carrying anindicator 14 transverse to the straight edge and parallel to the headportion 12.

For purposes of this invention the various parts of the straight ofgoods finder 10 can be made of wood, plastic or any suitable materialwhich is firm and will not warp or become distorted. The straight edge11 and the head portion 12 are preferably formed or constructed to liein a common plane so that these two portions will lie flat upon thematerial or fabric C from which a garment part is to be cut. Thestraight edge 11 is of a length such as to extend at least butpreferably more than halfway across the fabric C as it comescommercially in bolts.

The rider 13 as best seen in Fig. 3 consists of a bridge piece 17 uponwhich the indicator 14 is mounted or scribed as the case may be. In thisconnection see Figs. 3 and 4 in which the indicator 14 is a slim rodsecured to the bridge piece 17 whereas in Fig. 5 the bridge piece itselfor an added piece of plastic 17' has a V groove 14 scribed lengthwiseupon its top surface and transversely of the straight edge 11 over whichthe bridge piece is disposed.

To complete the rider 13 the bridge piece 17 is provided with a guideblock 19 and 20 one on each side of the straight edge 11 so as tomaintain the bridge piece as well as the indicator 14 transversely ofthe straight edge 11.

It should here be noted that the guide blocks 19 and r 20 are not quiteas deep as the normal depth of the straight edge 11 so as to leave asubstantial clearance heneath each of the blocks 19 and 20 and the uppersurface of the goods or fabric C. In this manner the bridge piece isfree to glide lengthwise of the straight edge 11 without catching ontoor snagging a pattern P which lies between the straight of goods finderand the fabric.

As best illustrated in Fig. 4, the pattern P has printed thereon agrainline arrow A which is to be placed lengthwise of the goods orfabric C. This placement is very important to the tailored appearance ofthe ultimate garment. In order to eliminate waste of the material C itis sometimes necessary to try several layouts of the various patternpieces for a particular garment. Consequently, it is customary to placethe several pattern pieces and pin them to the fabric until the entiregarment is laid out thereon. For example as illustrated in Fig. 4, alarger pattern piece P is first placed upon the material C leavingspaces in which smaller pattern pieces such as for belts and collars canbe placed to avoid loss of the amount of material in these irregularspaces.

With the straight of goods finder 1%, each pattern piece can beaccurately placed with its grainline A in register with the straight ofgoods, i. e., lengthwise of the material. This is accomplished byplacing the head portion 12 right on or at the selvedge S of thematerial C. Thus the straight edge 11 will be disposed absolutelytransverse to the material. The pattern piece P is placed under thestraight edge with the latter crossing the grainline arrow Asubstantially midway between its arrow ends. The rider 13 is then movedalong the straight edge 11 until the indicator 14 overlies the grainlinearrow printed on the pattern. Thereafter the pattern P is adusted untilthe grainline arrow A registers with the indicator 14 thus indicatingthat the pattern P is properly placed upon the material with itsgrainline arrow disposed lengthwise of the goods, i. e., with thestraight of goods. The pattern piece thus disposed is then secured tothe cloth C by straight pins L as shown in Fig. 5 whereupon the sameprocedure is repeated for the other pattern pieces for the particulargarment to be laid out upon the cloth.

Having thus described my straight of goods finder in specific detail, itwill be apparent that variations, alterations, and/0r modifications maybe made without departing from the spirit of my invention. I, therefore,desire to avail myself of all variations, alterations and/ormodifications as fairly come within the purview of the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A device for positioning a pattern upon fabric with its grainline inalignment with the straight of goods which is parallel with the selvedgeof such fabric comprising an elongated straight edge, ahead portiondisposed perpendicular to said straight edge and at one'end thereof,said straight edge and its head portion being disposed in a common planeto lie upon the fabric with the head portion in alignment with theselvedge of the fabric and the straight edge transversely of the goodsand above the pattern, and an indicator mounted on said straight edgefor sliding movement therealong for indicating the straight of goodsrelative to said pattern and the grainline thereon comprising a bridgepiece transverse to said straight edge, a guide blockon each side ofsaid straight edge and secured to the under side of said bridge piece,said guide blocks being of lesser thickness than said'straight edge toafiord clearance beneath each of said blocks and the upper surface ofsaid fabric and pattern thereon. v

2. A straight of goods finder for laying out pattern parts on fabricwith their grainline arrows in parallelism with the selvedge of suchfabric comprising an elongated straight edge, a head portion disposedperpendicular to said straight edge and at one end thereof, a ridermounted for sliding movement upon said straight edge, an indicator onsaid rider disposed transversely of said elongated straight edge, saidelongated straight edge and said head portion being disposed in a commonplane with the head portion parallel to-the selvedge of said fabric andsaid rider comprising a bridge piece transverse. to said straight edgeprovided with a guide block on each side of said straight edge and oflesser thickness than the latter to afiord substantial clearance betweensaid guide blocks and the upper surface of said fabric and patternthereon.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSMichalovitz Apr. 1,

